The last couple of months in Zanzibar have made us crave for good winds, so we decided to work a little on what we had from past travels and put together a short video for you to see the abilities of our Emanuel as well as some beautiful kitesurfing spots around Tanzania (and not only in Zanzibar!).
Remember that we offer advanced tuition for kite surfing with your own gear. You can learn to jump and do tricks like Emanuel is showing you and become a pro!
Enjoy!!
We like to try different kite surfing spots, as well as different working environments – all new experience which we build up for our school in Zanzibar!
So this time it’s Cape Town. Winds that blow crazily at well over 30 knots on an easy day… a water temperature of 15 degrees °C in the good days… deep water… Well, it is a different world!
The best kite surfing spots in Cape Town, for the ones who are not familiar with the area, are on the north of the city itself, starting from Blouberg all the way up to Langebaan and its beautiful natural reserve.
Yes, the water looks like the Caribbeans, the temperature once you get in… not quite!
Here are some pictures of Ema teaching, both in Blouberg itself and in Sharks Bay / Langebaan:
If you want any further information about kite surfing in Cape Town, please drop us a line!
We are sure you have been looking forward to seeing the second part of our beginners kite surfing course! Do you remember where we stopped in our last blog post? Just before the water start! Have a read through again so that you are fresh with all the steps in mind for the last efforts towards riding!
Step by step guide to kite surfing
And now let’s go straight into it!
Step 4: water start
Once you have proved to be independent in the piloting of the kite as well as in the body dragging maneuvers in case of problems, you are ready to try your first water starts.
First of all, your instructor will explain to you what position to have in regards to the board, with both legs bent the same so that you will avoid turning around yourself when playing the kite to prompt your water start.
You are now fully independent in the piloting of the kite, including with one hand only. In fact, when water starting, you will need one hand to position the board while the other hand keeps the kite in position at the centre of the wind window, at 12 o’clock.
How to gain the power to make you stand on the board? Once again the clock is paramount in our discussion.
Let’s say you want to go to the right. The wind comes from your back and you are properly positioned with the kite at 12 o’clock. Kneel down in the water or float keeping the kite with one hand. Grab the board with the other and insert your feet in the straps.
Stay in position, float, relax. Now you are ready to try your first water start.
Play the kite at 11 o’clock and then quickly go to 2 o’clock (1 if the wind is stronger, 3 if the wind is weaker). When the kite reaches 2 o’clock you will feel a pull and that is the time when you have to help yourself on the board. Front leg straight, back leg bent.
Yes, we know it is not so easy, but attempt after attempt you will manage! Look at one of our students in the video below:
Are YOU ready???
Join us in Bwejuu to become a pro! And remember – for the whole month of November, 3 hours tuition in a group of 2 is 95 Euro / 110 USD per person! See link below:
Good winds!
We bet most of you are curious about what you REALLY will be doing in order to start riding with a kite and a board! Despite a lot of YouTube videos available, we wanted to make something more personal and share with you some pictures of our students learning the different steps of kite surfing!
Step 1: the trainer kite
The trainer kite is a small but powerful kite which will start giving you a hint of the pull you can get from a bigger kite. During the first 1.5-2 hours you will learn to pilot it on the beach, including launching and landing and the clock system. All the piloting will later be repeated with the bigger kite, but in the water!
You can see below Busy teaching Evan and Jean-Sebastien and getting them to practice the trainer kite.
Step 2: kite control
The next step in learning how to kite surf is based on the piloting of the sail in the water. You will have full gear – the kite which you would use to ride, bar and harness. Just the board is still missing, because first you need to gain full confidence in controlling the kite, including holding it with one hand only to be able to grab the board and wear it with the other hand!
Our students Ania and Michal training control techniques in the water:
Step 3: body-dragging
Once you have gained the desired confidence in piloting the kite, you will do one of the most fun activities of the entire course: body dragging!
Body dragging, as the word itself says, is a technique of piloting the kite which allows you to be physically dragged by it. Body dragging will be practiced both downwind and upwind and it is a safety maneuver which you will use to go back to shore if you lose the board as well as to go look for the board itself. If you are familiar with sailing, you will pretty much apply the same techniques you use in the man overboard exercise, reaching out to the point (the man overboard for a boat or the board when kite surfing) in sequential steps.
You can have a hint of how body dragging works from the picture below:
Now you have reached around 5 hours course and you are approaching the most exciting part of the whole training: the water start!
Keep tuned and wait for our next post, with the first water start attempts which will make you a pro-rider!
When the wind is not too strong but just strong enough to get some good waves, it’s stand up paddle time!!
Here is Emanuel trying out the stand up paddle and having some fun with it!
The SUP is also an excellent way to explore the coastline and check out a different view of the beach. You can make it as relaxed or as sporty as you like!
Come enjoy the stand up paddle with us!
I know it took us a while to find the right design, and the right artist to draw our sign… but finally here we are!
Now you have no excuses! The sign is big on the top of our school – on a beautiful white background for easiness of reading.
We have commissioned a local artist from Paje to do the work and finally this morning we have put it up!
Easy to find us on the beach now, and we will put signs on the main roads leading to here soon.
We are also thinking about putting some artwork from local artists inside our offices, for you to have a look and buy if interested and for us to have a more colorful and happier atmosphere (as if there was a need for it!!).
Check out our new sign in the pictures below:
Welcome to join us this week of great wind!
